One of the first things I encountered that was different from my expectations here was laundry. Having lived away from home since I was fourteen, I've found that in order to live comfortably in a dorm you need to know only a few things: Where is your room, where is the key to your room, where is the bathroom, and where is the laundry room. These are the only things you need to find out the first day.
My expectations about laundry were confused by a conversation that is repeated below (abridged):
Where is the laundry room?
Downstairs, you just give it to the washer woman.
We don't do our own laundry?
Oh yea, we do our own laundry.
So where are the washing machines?
This is where we get to the clash between expectations and reality. There are no washing machines. Laundry is done either by giving it to the washer woman, who will wash any piece for 8 rupees (round up and say 20 cents), or you do it yourself, in the shower, in a bucket.
I'd hand washed clothes before when I went to Nicaragua, and there was a communal wash board and sink where dishes and clothes were cleaned, but there is no wash board here, just a bucket.
The other purpose the buckets serve is for bathing. Lady Shri Ram College for Women has been ranked the best liberal arts college in India for two years in a row now, and before that has been within the top three, playing back and forth with a few other schools each year. For such a brand name institution, one would think that the dorm, which is extremely competitive to get into, would have things like washing machines, or shower heads. I am actually extremely lucky in that the four foreign students in the dorm live together. Our two double rooms (well, single sized double rooms) connect, we share a balcony, and a bathroom with a western toilet and a telephone shower head. The other girls, who share the hall bathrooms, get the indian squat toilets and spickets in the shower stalls which they use to fill their buckets and pour over themselves with handled cups.
My expectations about laundry were confused by a conversation that is repeated below (abridged):
Where is the laundry room?
Downstairs, you just give it to the washer woman.
We don't do our own laundry?
Oh yea, we do our own laundry.
So where are the washing machines?
This is where we get to the clash between expectations and reality. There are no washing machines. Laundry is done either by giving it to the washer woman, who will wash any piece for 8 rupees (round up and say 20 cents), or you do it yourself, in the shower, in a bucket.
I'd hand washed clothes before when I went to Nicaragua, and there was a communal wash board and sink where dishes and clothes were cleaned, but there is no wash board here, just a bucket.
The other purpose the buckets serve is for bathing. Lady Shri Ram College for Women has been ranked the best liberal arts college in India for two years in a row now, and before that has been within the top three, playing back and forth with a few other schools each year. For such a brand name institution, one would think that the dorm, which is extremely competitive to get into, would have things like washing machines, or shower heads. I am actually extremely lucky in that the four foreign students in the dorm live together. Our two double rooms (well, single sized double rooms) connect, we share a balcony, and a bathroom with a western toilet and a telephone shower head. The other girls, who share the hall bathrooms, get the indian squat toilets and spickets in the shower stalls which they use to fill their buckets and pour over themselves with handled cups.
I think I am the washer woman at our house...tee hee. I wonder how much I could make at .20 cents an item....hmmmmmm
ReplyDelete